Analyst predicts no revolutionary products at Macworld ’09

You know things aren't looking good when analysts start predicting a flat Macworld Expo, but that's what's happening today, courtesy of Piper Jaffray superstar analyst Gene Munster. In a note sent out to clients this morning (as seen by AppleInsider), Munster pointed out that it's near impossible to predict an upcoming announcement what with updated iPods, MacBooks, MacBook Pros, and the iPhone 3G having been released late in 2008. "With [Apple marketing chief] Phil Schiller delivering the keynote, we believe it suggests there will not be any revolutionary products at this year's event," he wrote.

Munster added that the investment firm doesn't expect any exciting iPhone news to come out of the Expo either, although he apparently does believe that a new model could surface by the end of the March quarter. (The non-six-figure, non-professional analyst in me disagrees—I'm looking at mid-summer again.) Munster said that Piper Jaffray expects Apple to intro a lower-end model with a slider keyboard (eew) for between $99 and $149. iPhone nano, anyone?

The firm still thinks a few products will get a bump next week, though, such as the ever-predictable Mac mini and iMac. In other news, the grass will likely remain green into 2009, and the sky will continue to be blue despite internal controversy over a possible color change.

Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui